Parents Turn To Social Networking To Organize And Share Opinions About District Policies

They started with e-mails. Then they created Facebook groups. Then came the website.

When Cooper City parents organized to fight proposed boundary changes for Pioneer Middle School, they did the usual knocking on doors and posting signs. But they also turned to technology - and got at least 400 people, in just a few days, to turn out to a community meeting.

"Our world is about technology," said Doug Bartel, a healthcare marketing executive and father of three Embassy Creek Elementary students. "It took about a nanosecond to realize that we needed a Facebook page to communicate with the widest number of people."

Across South Florida, parents are using Facebook, e-mail and other online tools to organize against their respective school districts. Experts say they expect such sites to be used more frequently because users can easily tap into their existing network of friends and they don't have to be in front of their home computers to do it.

"Many people have that social network from their cell phones now," said Marcus Messner, professor of mass communications at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. "If they're in the supermarket, they can organize. ... You can move at a much faster pace than you can door-to-door, or even calling people."

It also allows organizers to draw from a cross-section of people, which broadens their reach, said Steve Jones, a communications professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

But he wonders about the long-term impact. "We don't know whether or not it's going to be able to sustain itself," Jones said. "At some point you become so inundated with e-mails or instant messages or Facebook groups, it becomes difficult to pay attention to all of them."

School Board Chairwoman Jennifer Gottlieb said she's been impressed with the way the Cooper City parents used Facebook.

"I think it's very effective because they organized very quickly ... and they were all on the same page," Gottlieb said.

Still, she said the best way to reach her is by calling her office or e-mailing her directly. Though she has a Facebook page, she doesn't always check it.

The parents who have turned to social media say it's been an invaluable tool.

When parents and students at West Broward High School in Pembroke Pines went online to protest the layoffs of six teachers this summer, more than 200 people showed up to appeal to board members. Eventually, their football coach, an assistant football coach and the school's early childhood education teacher were rehired.

"The old way was to pick up a list of numbers and names. Then you had to call everybody and tell them where the meeting was or if it had been changed," said Joanne McShane, a Pembroke Pines parent who created saveourwestbrowardstaff.com and used Facebook this summer.

Perhaps the most successful example of social media is taking place now in Palm Beach County, through the Facebook page, "Testing is not Teaching! - PBC citizens united to make a difference!" Wellington mom Lisa Goldman started it in September to oppose a new school district testing program.

Her site attracted more than 8,000 friends in about two months.

Elise Wengier, a Cooper City mother of four who started boundarychangeopposition.com, said her website and Facebook have been crucial in the Pioneer case. Parents have used it to post contact information for School Board members and state legislators, and keep people updated on news, meetings and other events.

Creating the site was simple, Wengier said. She used Google Sites, a tool that helps people design their own websites, then created a separate e-mail account linked to the website so she could easily send messages to different lists.

Thanks to their efforts, those Cooper City parents may just get their way. Last week, Broward Schools Superintendent James Notter recommended the district put off Pioneer Middle's boundary change for a year, and board members will discuss it on Tuesday.